Odesa lawyer admitted guilt in bribing a judge for a "deferment" from mobilization

Odesa lawyer admitted guilt in bribing a judge for a "deferment" from mobilization

The High Anti-Corruption Court approved a plea agreement regarding Odesa lawyer Tetyana Berezhna.

This was reported by Sudovyi Reporter with reference to the verdict from May 19.

The lawyer admitted her guilt in offering an improper benefit to Oleksandr Boyarskyi, a judge of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City District Court of Odesa region, in June 2024. For money, the judge was supposed to establish that a conscription-age man was permanently caring for a person requiring such care due to health reasons. Based on this court decision, the man could receive a deferral from military service. 

Berezhna informed the judge that all the necessary documents, including medical commission certificates, were available. The judge replied that he saw no obstacles to making a positive decision as all necessary documents were present. He proposed she contact his assistant. To this, the lawyer remarked that she initially planned to transfer the improper benefit through the assistant and the court session secretary, but she was not satisfied with their conditions. It turned out that the session secretary allegedly took more for the transfer of the improper benefit than was intended for the judge himself, so she decided to hand the money over through a trusted person of the judge.

During a meeting with Boyarskyi’s trusted person, the lawyer asked him not to say anything when handing over the money, but simply give it to the judge. The interlocutor replied that he wouldn’t say anything and joked that Judge Boyarskyi would soon need to sew up his pockets.

Later, the lawyer, the judge, and his trusted person met at the café "Maestro". The judge’s representative suggested that his companion and the judge’s driver move to the car. There, the man placed 400 dollars in the glove compartment among some photos that were there, telling the driver for Boyarskyi to look at these photos, referring to the improper benefit. After that, he returned to the restaurant and informed the judge that he had placed the money in the glove compartment of his car from the lawyer.

Lawyer Berezhna unconditionally admitted guilt. The court approved the agreement and assigned the punishment agreed upon by the parties, namely 4 years of imprisonment with a probation period of 1 year.

The accused undertook to cooperate with the criminal proceedings regarding the organized group in the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City District Court, which during 2022-2024 ensured the issuance of court decisions on determining the child’s place of residence with the father, the deprivation of parental rights of the mother, and interference in the automated court document management system. The prosecutor reported that thanks to her testimony, it was possible to identify other actors — another lawyer, his assistant, and to clarify the roles of three judges, their three assistants, two other individuals, and more.

Within ten days after the verdict comes into legal force, the woman must transfer 500,000 hryvnias for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The 400 US dollars that were transferred to Judge Boyarskyi are confiscated for the state revenue.

A week ago, the court approved a similar plea agreement regarding the former session secretary of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City District Court.

In February of this year, the disciplinary chamber of the High Council of Justice decided that Judge Boyarskyi, who is being held criminally liable, should be dismissed from his position.

According to law enforcement estimates, the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City District Court had issued over a thousand decisions that allowed men to avoid mobilization and freely leave the country.  As reported by NABU, for conspiracy, the offenders created a court back-office at a law firm and even advertised their services on social media.

The NABU and SAPO operation to uncover this scheme lasted over a year. In January 2024, the transfer of an improper benefit to one of the judges for the promise of making a decision was documented. But the members of the organized group continued their activities. In the summer and fall of 2024, new crimes were documented, and suspicions were announced to 9 more individuals. In February 2025, it was reported that the criminal group included 13 individuals.